The Utah Jazz season has ended and the annual media availability today gave us the opportunity to listen to Justin Zanik speak about the Jazz. Here are some of the most interesting quotes.
On what was learned from this season and the fans
This could be a really productive, informative season to evaluate our players and our staff, and there were a lot of positives that came from this season. I know it was tough in terms of wins and losses, but there were a lot of positives: the development of our young players, the establishment of a culture and foundation…
I continue to be awed by our fans and our community for the support they give us every year, 333 home sellouts is amazing.
For those fans that continued to attend games, it really is amazing how often the Jazz sell out and how hard they cheer for this team. And fans got a front-row seat at player development every night. It wasn’t always pretty, but it was productive, according to Zanik
On the rookies
Every rookie needs time to adjust to the speed and the schedule. It always takes a little bit. When they played, there were flashes. Kyle was learning to integrate how to be a 4 and a 5, constantly changing lineups. You could see he really knows how to play, and you could really see his basketball IQ. For him, you learn about the physicality in every game.
For all three of these rookies, this summer is probably the most important summer of their careers because they have time to train.
It’s really true that the rookies have a huge summer. Utah is in the phase of development with their young players and that means the players have to improve for this rebuild to work.
With Isaiah … his pace and strength being able to break a Jazz record is impressive.
Isaiah Collier had a really fun season and showed some great signs. He definitely has to improve as a shooter, but it’s exciting to see what he can do already.
With Cody, when we took Cody, he’s … he’s got a very good brain. He’s in the right places most of the time and kind of understands what’s going on in the game. We knew that physically it would take more time than other players that were more physically ready. And his time on the court, while he struggled with certain aspects, they were good reinforcement lessons of what he needs to do this summer. And that is from a strength standpoint, understanding the speed of the game. He has so many good tools with his size, his length, and his brain, and there’s a lot of things he wants to work on. But I know this experience for him, he wants to attack it this summer.
There’s no way around it, it wasn’t a good rookie season for Cody Williams. It’s definitely possible that the lack of weight and strength could have caused a ton of issues. It would be amazing to see if gaining weight and strength might be the thing that helps him improve. I’m just going to tell this to myself all offseason.
All three rookies will play in summer league.
Not a surprise, but it’s nice to hear. Utah should be really fun this summer, especially if they get lucky on lottery night.
On the second year players
Our second-year players all took individually different steps.
Taylor Hendricks will not play summer league to recover and develop his lower body. However, there are many positives to take from him.
I think Keyonte has always been a player who has given us some very good moments over the last two years. I know that there’s been some criticism of his efficiency, but I think a lot of that is due to the role we’ve asked of him with a very young team. I think coming off the bench and having a backcourt partner in Isaiah allowed him to be a little more efficient. This summer will be huge for him in terms of the feedback in terms of the shots that he takes. But his attitude has been great, and he’s a hard worker. Certainly, young players have things to work on, and I’m excited he’ll be here for the summer.
Brice showed signs last spring that he could shoot and could see the court. I think he was largely able to establish himself as a very, very good shooter in this league. While he has other things he needs to work on to become a more complete player, he’s got some tangible things that can apply to an NBA game and eventually to a championship team.
It’s been a little bit of a mixed bag with the Jazz’s second-year players, but it’s nice to get this perspective. It’s a huge summer for Hendricks and George. For Hendricks, it’s to get back to 100% physically. George has to improve his efficiency and work on his game. I personally love that George will be here this summer and will work all summer on his game. That’s a great sign. Also, for Zanik to give such high praise to Sensabaugh is exciting. Can he improve the other areas of his game? Next year will show us a lot. It’s why next year is going to be so fascinating with this team.
What is the plan for the team next year? Will they try to win or try to tank?
I wish I could tell you that’s a binary decision. The main reason that we have acquired our assets and have been very disciplined about our flexibility is to be ready for any opportunity. If there is a great opportunity out there to speed it up, we can do that. That part I’m not in control of; that’s the market. But we’ve positioned ourselves to be ready for that. I also don’t know what time or when those will become available. Obviously there will be a lot of news coming out of the league the next month with free agency, the draft, a lot of trades going on. Now, historically, with the new CBA, there are more trade opportunities in the draft than there are in free agency.
It’s going to be a fascinating summer and offseason. Do the Jazz win the lottery? Does that change what they do? We’ll see what they do, but you can bet it’s going to be incredibly important what happens on May 12th.
On Will Hardy
If I could cast a vote, I would vote Will Hardy for Coach of the Year.
Of all the things to worry about, Will Hardy is very low on the list and it’s nice the Jazz appear to feel the same way.
If you’d like to listen to the whole interview you can see it below.